Drop bars

Hello,

  I've seen a picture or two on this site of bikes with drop style handlebars - can anybody tell me:

  ...what the bike's like to ride with them fitted compared to the standard bars?

  ...whether they would fit past the fairing of a CB500S2?

  ...where I can get a set in the UK?  Postage from the US is a bit steep, it turns out...

Thanks for any guidance

Paging Basil Moss.........

Do you mean a bit like these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CAFE-RACER-GLOSS-BLACK-ACE-BARS-CLUBMAN-BARS-HANDLE-BARS-NEW-FREE-P-P-/261310447687?_trksid=p2054897.l5668

Spot on - wow, they're a lot cheaper than I was expecting!

I don't know what I was doing wrong before - all the links I found were to US sellers...

For that price, it'd be easier to just buy a set and see how well they work - if they don't fit past my fairing or they make the bike unridable, I'm sure some adventurous soule here will take them off my hands for a modest consideration  

Thanks for your help

Techbikeparts make adjustable cafe ( Jota ) bars which are more expensive - about £90, and are worth considering as they can be arranged to suit yourself and the bike. Unfortunately there is no picture on their website http://www.tecbikeparts.com/Home_Page.html but they'll send info on request.

Hmm...that's interesting - not a lot of info on their site though, like you say.

  I'll drop them an email and see what info they can send me - thanks for that

They are excellent! Especially if you have big gangly arms like me...

Not sure about the fairing though, I needed a bit of bodgery to move the indicators out of the way. They stay clear of the tank because of the extra reach.

I really like them because I used to do cycle road racing, and when I started riding motorbikes they all felt "sit up and beg". Feel more in control with my weight a bit lower, and it's less cramped when I hunch down to get out of the wind.

Hi Basil,

  thanks for your take on them - it was a picture of your bike I saw them on.

  I had a ZXR400 before the CB and I'm finding the upright position a bit weird - getting down over the tank a bit more would feel better, I reckon...

  Bodgery I can do...  

Thanks

Hi,
I had jota bars on a previous powerbronze faired cb500 and they are indeed very adjustable, too much if you are a serial spanner fiend. There was certainly clearance around the fairing but on the higher placements, not enough clutch cable, as the bars are wider than stock. I think m and p or busters do 'em for about £60 on flea bay, look for adjustable handlebars?
Jota bars work well with rearsetsjack up plates too.

One thing to note is that you will be restricted by where you drill the switchgear holes so best decide early how far forward you'd like to lean.

Finally, I've had a sit on Basils bike and it does feel fine, especially if you are used to sports bikes.


atb


muttley1

Well, I put my paypal account where my mouth is and bought a set of non-adjustable drop-bars - the ones linked to above, as it happens...



...they pretty much look the business

They feel great when I'm sitting on the bike here in the shed, too, but...



...it's tricky to see what the problem is here, but that's the clutch-lever adjuster stopping dead against the clocks...



...and this is the brake fluid reservoir hitting the other side...@rse

Also, I'm not sure if this matters, but...


...that's some mad angle the brake fluid reservoir's at now...

All in all, then, it's not going well so far - I can turn the front wheel through about a quarter of its original angle...good for a gp bike, I suppose, but problematic on the road.  I'm tempted to take it out and test it, but I'd need to do a u-turn at the end of the road to get home again and the turning-circle is currently set at "oil-tanker"...

I'm currently wondering about moving the fairing forward somehow...or maybe it'd just be more sensible to put the old bars back on

Time for a cup of tea and a think...

What a pisser. 

How about bar risers?

It's a thought...but they'd have to come up miles to clear the clocks.

OneWheelDrive wrote:

...that's some mad angle the brake fluid reservoir's at now...

All in all, then, it's not going well so far - I can turn the front wheel through about a quarter of its original angle...good for a gp bike, I suppose, but problematic on the road.  I'm tempted to take it out and test it, but I'd need to do a u-turn at the end of the road to get home again and the turning-circle is currently set at "oil-tanker"...

I'm currently wondering about moving the fairing forward somehow...or maybe it'd just be more sensible to put the old bars back on

Time for a cup of tea and a think...

I think you're on a loser there. I can't see how you'd move the fairing forwards without some fairly involved engineering (and probably wiring).
You may well fail the MOT if the bars are fouling - even if you get the brake reservoir past the fairing, I reckon the brake lever will then come up against it. 

Your insurance company might not like it - you have told them I assume? Some don't allow any modifications.

The only thing that might work is if you could find something like these, to pull the bars back a bit.

http://www.ascycles.com/detail.aspx?ID=48385

Hmm - that's pretty weird...

You're right - actually the bars are fouling all over the place and they bugger up the throttle and brake cable routing down through the fairing, too - plus, they're too thick for the switch-gear, which won't screw back together properly...although they're meant to be 22mm, that's obviously the pre-painted diameter.

Good point about the insurance company - I checked with them first before I tried this and they said they wanted a photo of the bars as fitted and that it still had to pass an MOT...although, you'd think that would be a requirement of insurance regardless...

No, this weekend it's back to standard

The switchgear has pegs which locate into holes drilled in the bars. You need to drill holes in new handlebars to make it fit.

You could perhaps find some bars which don't have a rise, which would give you a little more reach without fouling on the clocks.

Hi Basil,

  ah...yes...I wasn't going to admit to having not spotted that    The coating was still too thick to get the choke lever back on, though...

  I've put the originals back on now - the problem with figuring out what shape a fitting set of bars should be is it's such an awkward set of limits to get your head around - I was tempted to try and bend/braise a pattern out of copper pie, but there's a limit to how many projects you can have on the go at the same time, really...

  It's one on my list of things to come back to, though...

Thanks for your advice/input

Copper pie... Is that a northern thing, like butter pie?

Yes - it's marginally more healthy than Scotch Pie...

...it's a bit like plumb pie 

hhmmm that's the trouble with modifications now that you have race repped it as you say the turning circle is going to be a lot less and it wont be as easy to turn on tight bends and bad back syndrome on longer runs

put plenty of double cream on it will taste delicious